Applied Genetic and Epigenetic Influences on High and Low Immune Responder Phenotypes of Dairy Cattle

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The immune system is designed to control infectious disease and it is therefore reasonable to expect that high immune responders will have health advantages compared to low responders. Food-producing animals with enhanced immune responses (IR) should have reduced risk of disease, require less therapeutic intervention, including antibiotics, thereby producing milk and meat of improved quality. Previous research at the University of Guelph now allows dairy cows and calves to be classified as high, average or low immune responders using a patented test system. In order to provide protection against diverse pathogens, adaptive immunity includes two components, antibody (AMIR) and cell-mediated immune responses (CMIR). Studies in 2 research herds and a set of commercial herds show that high responders have lower risk of disease. Heritability of AMIR and CMIR are ~ 0.25 indicating that it is possible to improve these traits via genetic selection. Ongoing research is focused on learning more about the molecules, genes and DNA structural differences (epigenetic effects) that influence these unique and important phenotypes. Additionally, there is great deal more to learn about applying